Valentine's Day

My plans were to make the Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Valentine Cookies but I never got around to it. I still want to try them so maybe I will later. What I did make was chocolate covered strawberries. 

Couldn't decide which one I liked best...

Paula's Birthday

On February 9th we celebrated Paula's birthday by eating pizza at my house and cake at mothers.

James played Happy Birthday on the piano

 

I made her a chocolate caramel apple with nuts and chocolate caramel pretzel sticks with nuts. They are our favorite things to get at the Chocolate Crocodile on the Louisiana Boardwalk.

She didn't want to tell anyone how old she is. So all I will say is next year we will celebrate her big "50"

A Walk in the Woods

Sunday February 6th, Randall and I went to Caddo Wildlife Refugee for a walk and to check his game camera.

  
He had a few new pictures.

After our walk in the woods we went to the flea market in Uncertain, TX.
 

We did not find any bargains this time but we had a good time looking at all the "junk" at the flea market and riding around Uncertain. Here are a few more pictures around Uncertain.

The graceful ghost steamboat was under-going maintenance so it was out of the water and will be closed until mid March. For more information on the graceful ghost see
 http://www.gracefulghost.com/

Texas Snow and Easy Peasy Bread Sticks

I missed the Texas snow on January 9th because I was in Mena enjoying the Arkansas snow. But we had snow again on February 4th and February 9th and I got to enjoy the Texas snow and the day off from work.

 

 
One of the new recipes I cooked while off was easy peasy bread sticks that I found on tasty kitchen.

The recipe can be found at

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/breads/easy-peasy-bread-sticks/ 

or see below...

Easy-Peasy-Bread Sticks 

Ingredients

• 1-½ cup Warm Water
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Dry Active Yeast
• 3-½ cups Flour
• ½ cups Melted Butter
• 1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Lemon Pepper Or Seasoning Of Choice

Preparation Instructions

Mix together warm water, sugar, salt and yeast. Allow yeast to activate (about 10 minutes). Add flour and stir in with a fork until dough holds together. Turn out onto floured board.

Knead lightly into a ball. Divide into 32 equal portions. On floured board, roll out into bread sticks. Dip into melted butter and then into Parmesan cheese. Place onto greased cookie sheet (16 per bakers half sheet.) Sprinkle with lemon pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. This gives the bread sticks about 10 minutes to begin to rise. Cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

May be made in the morning and kept in the refrigerator unbaked. Remove from the refrigerator about 30 – 45 minutes (depending on how warm your house is) before baking.

 
I made them 4 different ways but you can use any seasonings.

1. butter, parmesan cheese and lemon pepper
2. butter, parmesan cheese and garlic
3. butter and garlic
4. egg wash and kosher salt

While off I also enjoyed looking at snow pictures from the past. Here are a few...

Me and Randall, January 19, 1978

 

 Mother, January 22, 1978

Me and Randall, January 22, 1978

 Ross, Dec. 1983

  Ryan, Dec.1983

Ross and Ryan,  February 1985

Ryan, February 1985

 Ross, February 1985

Paula, February 1985

Tony, November 1988

Randall, Amanda, Tony and William January 1989

Ryan and Tony, approx. 1992 (no date on pic)

Tony and Patches, December 1998

 

Luke and Avery's Visit

Luke and Avery came for the weekend a few weeks ago. Randall met Ross in New Boston to pick them up on Friday afternoon. Avery's shoes got left in the truck so Saturday morning we went to the dollar store and bought her a pair and I also got her some socks and panties to keep at our house. You should have seen her. She carried those around the whole time we were in the store and even got upset when the cashier had to take them from her to check them out. The shoes were a little big but she didn't care, she wore them all day and even while she napped.

While Avery was taking a nap, Randall stayed home with her and I took Luke to Paula's to play with James. Here's a couple of pictures of Luke and James in the go-cart. 

Every time Luke comes he wants James to spend the night. So this time we decided to have a "slumber party". Not only did James stay the night but Paula, Joyce and mother also stayed. And yes, Randall was here and he survived the night. After our hotdogs that night we had an ice cream party. I had all kinds of toppings for the kids to choose from... chopped snicker bar candy, chopped butterfinger bar candy, strawberries, nuts, chocolate chips, malt balls, gummy bear. I think the kids put everything on their ice cream instead of choosing just one or two toppings. Paula also made a new s'more brownie recipe that was very rich and good. 

They played the wii until late then we put down the mattresses and everyone finally settled down. I wish I had a picture of everyone but all I have is the bedding the next morning. 

Cheesecake of the Month

Amy gave me a really neat magazine called Cheesecakes & More. This magazine is full of cheesecakes that I want to try so I decided that I would make a different cheesecake each month. For January I chose one with apples called Apple-of-your-eye Cheesecake. This was the first time I had eaten an apple cheesecake and I think this recipe is a keeper so it will be added to my recipe file. 

My problem now is decide which one to make next. Will it be the German chocolate cheesecake, nutty candy bar cheesecake, golden-glazed lemon cheesecake, layered hazelnut cheesecake, Hawaiian cheesecake, key lime cheesecake, orange chocolate cheesecake, blueberry swirl cheesecake, black forest cheesecake, lemon cheesecake, frozen raspberry cheesecake or one of the many more in the book? 

There is also a interesting peppermint chip cheesecake recipe that I want to try. Just not sure if anyone in my family here in Jefferson will like it besides me. Randi, I may have to call your family to see if anyone wants some so I won't eat a whole cheesecake by myself. 

 

Apple-of-your-eye Cheesecake


1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 16 squares)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted

FILLING:
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

TOPPING:
2-1/2 cups chopped peeled apples
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping, divided
Sweetened whipped cream
2 tablespoons chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, combine the crackers, sugar, pecans and cinnamon; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom of a lightly greased 9-in. springform pan. Place pan a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Place pan on a wire rack.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in vanilla. Pour over crust. Toss apples with lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon; spoon over filling. Return pan to baking sheet.
Bake at for 55-60 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Drizzle with 4 tablespoons caramel topping. Cool for 1 hour. Chill overnight.
Just before serving, garnish with whipped cream. Drizzle with remaining caramel; sprinkle with pecans. Store in refrigerator. Yield: 12 servings.

Paula Deen

A couple of weeks ago I made several recipes from a Paula Deen show on the food network channel called brown-baggin-it. (See link below for recipes)

I made the Italian pasta salad and sweet tea-brined fried chicken on a biscone. I halved the recipes and we still had leftovers. I think the pasta salad was actually better the next day. I only made a few changes. I left the olives out of the pasta salad just because I didn't have any. After I brined the chicken breasts I cut them in strips instead of leaving them whole. I used yellow cheddar cheese instead of white. For the butter I used green onions instead of scallions. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/paulas-best-dishes/brown-baggin-it/index.html

Arkansas Snow Day

After Luke's party I had planned on staying until Monday to go with him to his dentist appointment in Fort Smith that morning then driving home that afternoon. It started snowing Sunday and his dentist appointment was cancelled for Monday. And because of the snow I was snowed in until Tuesday. And what better place to be if you had to be snowed in.

Ross, Luke and Avery watching it snow when it first started.

Luke with his bowl on truck to catch snow for ice cream. Amy made delicious snow ice cream later that afternoon.

I broke my toe on Sunday so I had to sit on the porch wearing one of Ross' shoes on my left foot while the kids played in the snow.

 Picture with ducks Luke and Ross killed earlier that morning.

Avery loved the snow as much as her brother Luke.

Tuesday afternoon it cleared up enough for me to head back to Texas.

On my way home